"Hello," she ventured, cautiously, glancing at each of them.

"Good day," they chorused, bobbing their egg-shaped heads at her. The one on the left side of the room had a few long wisps of grey hair attached to the very top of his otherwise totally bald head and he stood up to reveal a pear shaped body, tightly encased in a peach colored suit, the style of which wasn't even fashionable in the late 1960s, when the suit was undoubtedly new.

"I am Dale," he told her in a rather high pitched, nasal voice and nodded his head slightly in her direction.

She started to respond, but the other one quickly jumped to his feet before she could speak. He had a ring of short grey hair around the lower potion of his head, just above the ears, but was otherwise just as bald as his partner. He too was wearing a tight fitting, peach colored suit identical to that of his companion over his own pear shaped body and if not for the slight difference in the way their hair grew--or did not grow--they could have been identical twins.

"And I am Overhill," he said, in a voice that was a carbon copy of Dale's, while also nodding his head slightly in her direction.

"Um, yes," she muttered, still hanging half-in and half-out of the office, finding herself quite uncomfortable with the way things were progressing. "I am Ms. White," she finally admitted. While not wanting to appear rude, she had already decided that she did not want any assistance from either of these gentlemen, regardless of their special qualifications.

"Yes, indeed. Ms. White," Dale replied. Or perhaps it was Overhill. She was already getting them mixed up. "We have been expecting you."

"Yes, yes. Please, do come in," the other told her, waving a short, pudgy arm around in the air, as if that action would make the dreary office appear more inviting.

"Oh, I'm afraid there has been some...er, mistake," she said with a weak smile and shifted her position in the doorway, preparing for a quick exit. "It turns out that I really must be going. You see, I'm already late..." she began, but the stricken looks that came over the faces of the two detectives at her words made her stop in mid sentence.

It was the pause that did her in. If she had just excused herself gracefully, backed quickly out of the office and closed the door, she might have made a clean escape. As it was, the two detectives went into a flurry of activity that would have been comical if they had not been so obviously serious.

"No, no, please don't go," one of them cried, waving his arms frantically in the air.

"Yes, yes, please wait," the other begged, hands pressed dramatically to his cheeks.